SegWit Is Activated3 min read

On August 23, SegWit was activated around block 481,824. Marking a historic moment for Bitcoin and its future.

There has been a lot of drama over the last few weeks of whether Bitcoin should be updated to SegWit or should it stay as it is.

Now, that SegWit is activated, users will finally be able to take an advantage of this long-promised technology. The transactions will become faster and it removes transaction malleability, a bug that’s been the primary roadblock for many Bitcoin projects.

If you’re still out of the loop, below you will find a reminder of what’s SegWit and what does it mean for Bitcoin.

What Is SegWit

Bitcoin has been present on the market for almost 10 years, during which it became extremely popular.
The network was designed in a way that no updates can be done, without reaching the majority of consent. So you can imagine how difficult it could be to get 95% of the users to agree on something and implement that change.

Hence, Bitcoin has been going back and forth until it reached the unbearable level of transactions taking up to 5 hours for a confirmation from miners. Obviously, such an advanced technology like blockchain cannot keep on going like this and fall behind Visa or MasterCard.

So a group of developers came up with a solution called Segregated Witness (SegWit). This fancy name relates to the block capacity and processing transactions.

If you’re at least a bit familiar with Bitcoin, then you would know how processing transaction works. Once you send cryptocurrency to another person, it enters the public ledger and awaits the miner confirmation.

The transaction is a block which consists of your signature (private key) and the public address of the recipient. This data is currently locked in a 1MB block, and with so many transactions being requested throughout the day, there’s simply not enough space for all the blocks to fit in the network.

Hence, the idea of SegWit. The update would take some of the data from a 1MB block and store in a separate, extended block. It would automatically release the space on blockchain network and speed up the transaction process.

So, that’s what SegWit would do – increase the transaction speed and solve the malleability issue the network had for years.

While the majority of developers expressed their support for SegWit., and it has been locked in in August this year, there were different ideas on how to improve the network more drastically, and for longer.

Bitcoin Continuing Disagreement

Even though SegWit has been activated, some are still not convinced it was a good idea.

The political debate inside the Bitcoin community has already caused a hard fork of the Bitcoin blockchain and creating a new version of the coin – Bitcoin Cash. The new altcoin eliminated SegWit entirely and works with 8MB blocks.

The third Bitcoin could keep the 1MB block size, with SegWit, and compete with the other two over which Bitcoin should be considered as the original one.

After the news came through, that SegWit is activated, Bitcoin price went up again. Over the last few weeks, it has reached an all-time peak of over $4,000 and it will jump even higher after the last upgrade stage in November.

While there’s a lot of questions that cannot be answered yet around the new era for Bitcoin, there’s one thing we know for sure. We are one step closer of Bitcoin getting a long-awaited upgrade and going back to its original glory.

What do you think will be the next step for Bitcoin? Let us know in the comments below!

Megan is a self-thought blockchain enthusiast. She enjoys combining finance with technology, from a less-techy perspective. BiteMyCoin is her most recent project underneath the umbrella of an international digital marketing agency ANCHOVY.

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Our mission is to guide you through the complex process of understanding cryptocurrency and Distributed Ledger Technologies in the most practical way – leaving you with a clear understanding of the market and helping you to take the first steps.

Megan was born in Poland but from a young age always sought to expand her horizons to a more cosmopolitan way of life.
At 19 she moved to the hub of tech and culture where she studied at City University in London. Keen on understanding media platforms and social interaction Megan graduated with a degree in Media and Sociology.
Looking forward Megan began to invest both her time and money into new industries and one, in particular, got her attention: Blockchain.
Megan would absorb all that she could and back in 2010 the blockchain market was more of a pipe dream than the business tycoon that it has evolved to be today.
Her young mind began to wonder where she could further her Cryptocurrency ventures and a little island in the middle of the Mediterranean seemed like the perfect spot.
While London gave her the grit and business foundation she needed, Malta was the next chapter and a flourishing island to home Blockchain.
Megan found the perfect balance with advanced finance technologies and routinely studying the market in which it lives.
BiteMyCoin is the result of Megan’s cryptocurrency passion and with every post, update and new piece the aim is to bring the reader one step closer to our future.

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Co-Founder

Zak takes care of the business side of things. He leads the business development and international growth of the agency. After completing his Masters of Engineering in Software Engineering for Embedded systems from Fraunhofer IESE, he teamed up with his brother Benji to set the foundation for ANCHOVY. Zak has a passion for the sea, and if he’s not at the office he’s driving his passion for long distance swimming, sailing and windsurfing.

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Co-Founder

After completing his degree in advanced character animation in California, he identified, together with his brother Zak, a niche in Malta’s market for a data-driven digital marketing agency – and the rest is history. A serial entrepreneur by nature, when he’s not pushing the boundaries on innovation and setting up new start-ups, Benji loves reading, observing people and enjoying the simple things in life. He’s an avid windsurfer, who has sailed semi-professionally since the age of 13 – but there’s nothing he loves more than spending time with his family, friends and his girlfriend.